This invention relates to stock material comprising a web from which extend a multiplicity of upwardly projecting filamentary elements, and having a defined periphery.
In one important specific sense, the invention is particularly directed to such stock material having utility as a fluid filter for the inlet opening of a drain or the like, e.g. (without limitation) a waste pipe in an outdoor yard or pavement, a roof drain or downspout, a floor drain, a drain in an industrial or chemical tank, or a swimming pool, basin, or tub drain, to prevent debris from entering the drain or clogging the drain inlet opening.
For purposes of illustration, the invention will be specifically described hereinbelow as embodied in devices for the prevention of clogging of drainpipes of bathtubs, shower stalls, lavatories and the like, particularly due to the accumulation of hair therein. The invention as thus embodied provides a new article which prevents hair, hairpins or any other object carried away with the water flow during the taking of showers or washings or the like, from entering and clogging the drainpipes of bathtubs, shower stalls, lavatories and the like, by means of an entangling action carried out by flexible spikes or bristles or by an open lofty integrated web of continuous crinkled filaments or by rough indented openings provided by the article, in conjunction with a blocking action carried out by the shape of the article which is shaped to be adapted to cover entirely the strainers, as well as the drain-pipe opening of bathtubs, shower stalls, lavatories and the like, and both said actions being exerted upon the fallen hair, hairpins or any other object carried away with the water flow the the article is installed over a conventional strainer or over the drainpipe opening and inserted into it, thereby preventing said hair, hairpins or any other object from entering and clogging said drainpipes, while the net-like structure and/or the open web, which constitutes the body of the article, allows through suitably dimensioned openings, the free flow of running water into the drainpipe opening.
The main cause of clogging of drainpipes of bathtubs, shower stalls, lavatories and the like is the accumulation of hair therein. The clogging of drainpipes of bathtubs, shower stalls, lavatories and the like due to the accumulation of hair therein during the taking of showers or washings and the like, is a problem that has not yet been property solved by any of the usual ways of overcoming this problem which consist in using unclogging chemical products, which represent a health hazard in the home, or using a plunger or a drain auger, or a snake, or calling a plumber. The disadvantages of these approaches to the problem are that they do not prevent the clogging itself by eliminating its cause, which is the entrance of hair into said drainpipes, and only attempt to solve it after it has occurred, often even without good results and thus drainpipes are regularly clogged because of hair accumulation therein. Other disadvantages of the use of these apparent "solutions" are that they represent a nuisance, an additional expense and can be damaging to the piping system in the long run, and above all, clogging will keep recurring.
Heretofore, a major disadvantage of the existing strainers which claim to end the clogging problem of drainpipes of bathtubs, shower stalls, lavatories and the like, is that they do not actually prevent said fallen hair from entering and clogging the drainpipes because they do not exert a holding action upon the hair which slides into the openings of said strainers, thus entering and clogging the drainpipes during the taking of showers or washings, or the like. In addition, the existing drain covers provided with a screen which claim to prevent hair from clogging the drainpipes with the screen, actually prevent the free flow of draining water into the drainpipes due to the smallness of the openings of the screen, which intend to impede the passage of hair and foreign matter, thereby causing, during the taking of showers or washings, an accumulation of water on the bathtub and shower stall floor that with the addition of hair, dirt and high density suds, makes it all the more difficult for the water to drain, becoming stagnant, which is not uncomfortable when taking a shower and also requires repeated cleaning afterwards. A similar situation is encountered when shampooing one's hair on the lavatory, where there will be normally a substantial accumulation of both high density suds and hair and the small openings of the screen cause the stagnation of water that with the addition of the aforementioned hair and suds makes it all the more difficult for the water to drain, requiring also repeated cleanings afterwards. Furthermore, a disadvantage of the existing conventional vertically extensible drain stoppers, hereinafter called pop-up stoppers, or the like, of the drain control systems of bathtubs, lavatories and the like, in reference to this problem, is that they are not designed to prevent clogging due to the accumulation of hair into said drainpipes. Therefore, there is no device which actually ends the clogging problem of drainpipes in a satisfactory way, and this proves the need for new means of solving this problem.
The present invention provides the means to overcome the foregoing problem and to avoid the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art, offering novel means for preventing hair from clogging the drainpipes of bathtubs, shower stalls, lavatories and the like, consisting of spikes, bristles, open web of crinkled filaments, or rough indented openings of the net-like structure, to exert an entangling and gripping action upon the fallen hair, hairpins or any other object during the taking of showers or washings or the like, thereby allowing the provision of large enough openings of the net-like structure, and/or of the open web, which constitutes the body of the article, in order to insure the free flow of running water without hair into the drainpipe opening.